Mayor Menino announced today that the City of Boston has been recognized by IDG’s Computerworld Honors program 2013 Laureate for two outstanding and innovative programs. The annual award program honors visionary applications of information technology that promote positive social, economic and educational change.

“We are thrilled with the recognition that both the Boston Public Computing Centers and Citizens Connect have received,” said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. “Both programs use technology to improve the lives of Boston residents. From reaching out to close the digital divide and train underserved populations to engaging citizens with a mobile app.”

“Technology continues to play a pivotal role in transforming how business and society functions. For the past 25 years the Computerworld Honors Program has had the privilege of celebrating innovative IT achievements,” said John Amato, vice president & publisher, Computerworld. “Computerworld is honored to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of the 2013 class of Laureates and to share their work. These projects demonstrate how IT can advance organizations' ability to compete, innovate, communicate and prosper.”

The 2013 Laureates will be recognized at the Laureate Medal Ceremony on June 3rd in Washington D.C.

Economic Development categoryBoston Public Computing Centers / Boston Sustainable Broadband AdoptionTwo grants, funded by NTIA's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), have enabled the development of public computing centers providing digital skills training to targeted, underserved populations.The City is operating 53 public computing centers (PCC) in the Boston Centers for Youth & Families (BCYF), Boston Housing Authority (BHA), and Boston Public Libraries (BPL). The PCCs are rooted in neighborhoods and staffed by persons possessing an understanding of local populations. Under the Sustainable Broadband Adoption (SBA) grant, two non-profits - Tech Goes Home (TGH) and Timothy Smith Network (TSN) - and one for-profit, Connected Living (CL), have focused on delivering targeted training to specific populations: low income families with children, unemployed individuals lacking digital skills, and seniors living in BHA sites, respectively.

Innovation categoryCitizens Connect - Twenty percent of citizen requests come via mobile channel, resulting in a 22% increase in citizen satisfaction with city services in the past two years. Through the Citizens Connect app, Boston residents can interact with City Hall via mobile device, no matter where they are or what technology they're using: self-service portal, Twitter, Web site, online chat and text. The Citizens Connect smartphone app allows residents to take a photo of an issue, such as graffiti, and submit it directly to the city using their phone's GPS data to pinpoint the problem. This program has been so successful that the City is now partnering with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to provide this technology to over 40 cities and towns. These technology advancements are revolutionizing the way Boston does business and engages with its citizens.

“The City of Boston continues to focus on projects that make a difference in people’s lives. Both of these initiatives use technology to bring our citizens closer to the services they need. We appreciate the recognition of Computerworld’s Honors program,” Bill Oates, Chief Information Officer, City of Boston.

About ComputerworldComputerworld is the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers, providing peer perspective, IT leadership and business results. Computerworld’s award-winning website (http://www.computerworld.com/), bi-weekly publication, focused conference series, custom solutions and custom research forms the hub of the world’s largest (40+ edition) global IT media network and provides opportunities for IT solutions providers to engage this audience. Computerworld leads the industry with an online audience of over 3.5 million unique, monthly visitors (Omniture, August 2012) and was recognized as the Best Website by ASBPE and TABPI in 2012. Computerworld is published by IDG Enterprise, a subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world’s leading media, events and research company. Company information is available at http://www.idgenterprise.com/.

About The Computerworld Honors ProgramFounded by International Data Group (IDG) in 1988, The Computerworld Honors Program is governed by the not-for-profit Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation. Computerworld Honors is the longest running global program to honor individuals and organizations that use information technology to promote positive social, economic and educational change. Additional information about the program and a Global Archive of past Laureate case studies and oral histories of Leadership Award recipients can be found at the Computerworld Honors website http://events.computerworld.com/2013Honors.